Marcus Rashford ‘disappointed’ by government response on food poverty

Marcus Rashford said he is disappointed by the government’s response to his calls for more action on child food poverty.

The footballer said that a letter from the Secretary of Education, Gavin Williamson, showed “a lack of empathy … towards the protection of our most vulnerable.”

Williamson said the government was committed to supporting those in need, but did not fully endorse his task force on child food poverty.

Rashford, 22, is lobbying MPs to go further in the fight against hunger in families.

The Manchester United forward successfully campaigned to extend free school meals this summer, prompting a government U-turn on the issue.

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Earlier this month, he continued his campaign, setting up a task force with some of the UK’s largest food retailers, including Tesco, Asda and the FareShare charity.

The working group requests three policy changes, recommended by the revision of the National Food Strategy, to be funded by the government as soon as possible.

In a written response, Gavin Williamson highlighted existing government plans to combat food poverty, including food packages, voucher plans, and a summer food fund.

But the education secretary fell short of endorsing the government’s support for calls to expand free school meals to all households with the Universal Credit, and two other key recommendations.

‘I acknowledge that you and the Child Food Poverty Task Force support three of the recommendations of the National Food Strategy related to feeding low-income families.

“The government will carefully consider each of the report’s recommendations as we approach the next spending review.”

‘Problem of humanity’

Rashford, who showed Williamson’s letter to the BBC, said: “I am disappointed by the lack of empathy shown in recent weeks towards protecting our most vulnerable, the future of this country.”

“I did not have the education of a politician, I never claimed to have all the answers, but I have a voice and will continue to use it for the millions who are not being heard.

“The drive from myself and the Child Food Poverty Task Force to see these three government policies implemented without delay is stronger than ever.

“I have no interest in party politics. Letting millions of children in the UK starve at night is just a question of humanity.

“We need to do better.”

Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chairman of the select committee on education, described the government’s response to child food poverty as “lots of clothespins with no rope to wash,” stating that individual food programs, while welcome, were not enough, and that a national strategy was adopted. necessary.

“What Marcus Rashford is doing is incredibly important because he is putting this issue on the national conscience,” he told BBC Breakfast.

When asked if the government’s response was too slow, Halfon said: “It is a great social injustice that child hunger is occurring in our country.

“The government must treat this with real seriousness and make it a priority.”

He immediately urged the government to extend free school meals during school holidays, saying that the sugar tax funds would cover the cost and that no additional money would be required.

The child food poverty working group is lobbying the government to fund three policy recommendations from the National Food Strategy:

• Expand free school meals to all children in a household with Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching 1.5 million more children between the ages of seven and 16
• Expand an existing school holiday food and activities program to support all children with free school meals in all areas of England instead of the 50,000 children currently receiving aid.
• Increase the value of Healthy Start vouchers, which help parents with children under the age of four and pregnant women to buy some basic foods, from £ 3.10 to £ 4.25 per week, and expand it to all those with Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 290,000 people

Mr. Rashford previously described his successful summer campaign to extend free school meals as a “short-term solution” to preventing children from starving, but said “it would not work in the long term.”

“We have to think about the best way to do it, think about how these families can eat in the long term and not have problems,” he said.

During the coronavirus shutdown in the spring, the government provided vouchers to families whose children qualify for free meals, but had insisted this would not continue until summer vacation.

This prompted English footballer Rashford, who has spoken about his own experiences of using a food voucher scheme as a child, to write to MPs in June, calling on the government to reverse its decision.

The U-turn allowed around 1.3 million children in England to claim vouchers over the holidays, supported at around £ 15 per week for each child.

What is child food poverty and how many does it affect?

By Reality Check

• The Department of Health defines food poverty, also known as food insecurity, as the inability to pay or have access to food to eat a healthy diet.
• Last year, the government announced that it would begin measuring food insecurity through its Household Resources Survey and that the data would be available from 2021.
• Earlier this year, a YouGov survey commissioned by the Food Foundation suggested that 2.4 million (17%) children live in food-insecure households.
• Poor nutrition is recognized as a factor in children’s performance in school and students whose parents receive certain benefits are eligible for free school meals.
• In England, around 1.3 million children applied for free school meals in 2019, about 15% of students with state education.